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Chance of avocado glut, as bumper crop forecast

Holy guacamole! An avocado glut is looming, with bumper crops expected in Australia and New Zealand.

Kim Honan

Australia will produce its largest avocado crop this year, with a forecast 65,000 tonnes to be harvested.

Avocados Australia chief executive officer John Tyas says the local industry has been growing steadily for a number of years.

"Western Australia, in particular, is a fairly new part of the industry that's really come online this year, and combined with most regions that have a good crop, that's what's resulted in that number," he said.

But New Zealand is also expecting a bumper crop this year, with its fruit likely to arrive in the market here late July to early August.

Mr Tyas says that could lead to a glut of the fruit.

"These days there's some good market information out there," he said.

"I think the industry generally has got understanding of what's coming into the market and when and hopefully they can plan to their supplies to make sure that we minimise those big gluts.

"Gluts aren't good for prices, but they're also not good for quality when you've got old fruit building up in the chain."